BCCI has apparently conveyed to the emerging Indian players that they are no longer allowed to make requests for Dhoni’s No.7 jersey. Tendulkar’s No.10 had already been excluded from the options earlier.
The BCCI has recently decided to follow the precedent set with Sachin Tendulkar’s jersey No. 10 by retiring MS Dhoni’s No. 7 as well. This means that going forward, no other Indian cricketer will be assigned the No. 7 jersey. Typically, cricketers are allowed to choose their preferred jersey number before making their debut for India, with the option to select any number between 1 and 100 according to ICC rules. However, a recent Indian Express report suggests that the BCCI has informed young Indian players that they are no longer allowed to request the No. 7 jersey.
The decision to retire Dhoni’s jersey comes approximately three and a half years after his retirement in August 2020. Notably, Dhoni wore the No. 7 jersey in his last appearance for India during the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester, England. Dhoni, regarded as one of the biggest names in Indian cricket, holds the distinction of being the only captain to have won all three ICC tournaments in the white-ball format. The retirement of his jersey No. 7 is seen as a tribute to his significant contributions to the game. It is worth mentioning that Sachin Tendulkar’s No. 10 had already been taken off the list of available numbers in 2017.
He guided a young Indian team to success in the first T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. Four years later, India ended their 28-year-long wait for an ODI World Cup as Dhoni struck the iconic six at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in the 2011 final against Sri Lanka. In 2013, Dhoni led India to victory in the Champions Trophy, marking India’s most recent ICC title.
The influential cricketer from Ranchi, who currently captains the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, has played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs, and 98 T20Is for India, accumulating 4876, 10773, and 1617 runs respectively.
Dhoni also holds the record for the most dismissals by an Indian wicketkeeper, boasting 634 catches and 195 stumpings. This achievement places him as the third most successful wicketkeeper in cricket history, following South Africa’s Mark Boucher and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist.
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‘Number crunch’ in Indian cricket
The decision to retire jersey numbers, however, limits the options for young Indian cricketers. Currently, only the jersey numbers of retired cricketers are available for selection by new players.
“At present, around 60 numbers are assigned to the regulars in the Indian team and those in contention. Even if a player is out of the team for approximately a year, we do not allocate his number to a new player. This means that a recent debutant has only about 30 numbers to choose from,” another BCCI official explained to Express.
The report further notes that young Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal desired jersey No.19. However, since Dinesh Karthik uses the same number and has not retired, the left-hander had to settle for No.64.
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